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December 31, 2017

Find a Business Partner Through Your Network

Entrepreneurs need all types of relationships to build and grow a company. Many of these early relationships will come from an entrepreneur's own personal network. Relationships needed include employees, co-founders, investors, and business partners.

While it can take time to form business partnerships, it is still worth the effort. Entrepreneurs should leverage their network to find these partnerships. They should ask certain people for referrals to potential partners.

Business partners are instrumental for a company's growth. The key is to form strategic relationships that can ultimately lead to more sales. Business relationships could be for functional areas such as marketing sales, finance, HR, and operations. By building these types of relationships, entrepreneurs can fill in gaps that they are lacking in the core team. Usually, these partnerships are formed early on as a company is ramping up its business. As more and more sales come in, then a company will hire some of these positions.

Business partners should still be vetted like any type of key relationship for a company. Get reference checks and evaluate three different people for each type of relationship. It is good to have choices and to have a backup. By being careful about who you with, you will be positioning your company for success. Take time to find the right business partners.